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In a study conducted for the launch of Talktalk, the broadband cell phone using speed in its mission statement, several statistics about the “points of impatience” of the British people in different situations were provided. The study shows that the internet is wiping away one of the fundamental traits which have always characterized the British people.

According to the study, and as mentioned earlier, 70% of the people give up on an internet page if it takes more than one minute to load. Five minutes and four seconds is the maximum a British person can wait without boiling while being kept on hold, after that, he might hang up. It is widely known that the British are heavy tea consumers but very few people know that the maximum bearable time that they can wait for the water to boil is five minutes and six seconds after which tea might be served with a stern face rather than the warm friendly attitude that usually accompanies Brits while serving tea. The Brits’ patience while waiting in restaurants runs out after 8 minutes and 38 seconds, any second later than that, they start wondering whether their meal will ever be served. Being late for more than 10 minutes and one second when meeting a friend is not tolerated. Calling someone back after receiving a voice mail or a text is expected to take place within no longer than 13 minutes and 16 seconds. I guess that now that the Brits have been infected with that impatience disorder, we might have lost all hope of escaping the disease!

Mark Schmid, communications director at TalkTalk said:

“The speed of the online world is making us less prepared to wait for things to happen in the offline world, causing people to reach the ‘Point of Impatience’ earlier than ever before” (Netimperative)[1].

And he’s doing a hell of a good job taking advantage of it!

The study has also shown the frequency of several reactions which happened after reaching the points of impatience.
Cancelled a service 37%
Demand to speak with the manager 35%
Shouted at someone 27%
Slammed the phones down 26%
Pestered for a response 24%
Walked out 14%
Thrown something across the room 3%
Thrown a punch 1%